


Flights of Fancy

by sparklight



Category: Transformers: Shattered Glass
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-21
Updated: 2014-09-21
Packaged: 2018-02-18 07:02:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2339444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparklight/pseuds/sparklight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A gathering of drabbles involving Starscream and Cliffjumper in the Shattered Glass 'verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

As Starscream's engine cycled up into a roar and his thrusters lit, Cliffjumper reflexively clutched what he could of the angles at Starscream's chestplates, even with Starscream's arms around him.

"I don't know about this---" Scowling, Cliffjumper pressed close and felt his fuel sort of skip as they left the ground. The vertigo was unpleasant. He didn't bother trying to speak louder than normal, this close, engines or not, they could pick up each other's voices anyway.

"I'm not going to _drop you_ , you know."

Glancing upwards, Cliffjumper caught the slight quirk to the upper ridge of Starscream's left optic and huffed, digging his fingers in and keeping his optics somewhere between Starscream's faceplate and his right shoulder vent.

"I fraggin' _know_ , thanks. If I thought ya would, I wouldn't be here at all!" Tightening his legs around Starscream's waist, Cliffjumper concentrated on the vibrating hum of Starscream's chestplating, his engine working away beneath it. It was as reassuring as Starscream's arms around him and the way they tightened slightly, and why _had he_ agreed to this?

"I know." The slagger was _chuckling_ , his optics bright and soft and Cliffjumper grimaced up at him and dared to cast a glance behind him and under them. Polyhex was stretched out in its ruined, glittering glory, with Darkmount rising above the wreckage like a silvered beacon that glittered in the moonlight. 

It was... pretty.

He still didn't understand why Starscream had badgered him into not using his jetpack but rather have Starscream carry him for the flight - even if it was sort of nice, clinging close to the warm, thrumming metal he was pressed up against... Huffing, Cliffjumper ignored the faint rev of his engine, Starscream's _responding_ rev, and concentrated on the view instead.


	2. Roster Reshuffling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The roster for a mission gets changed.

"Starscream, what the _frag_ are you doin', we need to---" cutting himself off just a few steps after storming through the door into the medbay slash lab Starscream used for what projects he could do, personal as well as assistance for their work on Earth, Cliffjumper stared and then crossed his arms over his chestplates after a moment.

"Idiot," muttering, he shook his helm and after a few annoyed moments of staring and tapping his foot, let out a reluctant static sigh and finally crossed the room to the console where the scientist was slumped in his chair. He _walked_ instead of storming over however, and when he stopped beside the console he was caught for a brief moment by the half-hidden, pale faceplate.

Starscream looked... relaxed in recharge. The lines and angled planes were softened as he slept, even where the shadows from where his helm was pillowed on his arms or where the shadows from the kibble fell over his faceplate. Shaking his helm sharply, Cliffjumper dropped his hand from where he'd _almost_ been about to shake Starscream awake and instead leaned over the console and Starscream's side, stretched up on the tips of his bumpers, to save the work still displayed on the screen and turn the computer off.

::Cliffdude? We ready to jam?:: Soundwave's blaring cheerfullness _almost_ made Cliffjumper twitch, but that might've jostled Starscream, so he managed to stay still until he could withdraw enough not to bump into the recharging Starscream.

::Uh, yeah. Sure. Substitute Starscream with someone else for our aerial defense, and we're ready to go. Our stalwart commander's busy chasin' glitch-mice. Busy enough he was doin' it all fraggin' night and probably still doin' it in recharge.:: Cliffjumper said with a snort and cast a last scowl at Starscream before he left the medbay.

He couldn't _believe_ he was letting _Starscream_ have some slack. He also couldn't believe how _soft_ Starscream looked in recharge. Maybe it was because his faceplate was pale instead of dark... as well as lacking the _other_ Starscream's perpetual smirk or scowl. _That_ Starscream probably looked insufferable even in recharge, compared to this one.

And this one... well, he worked _so fragging hard_ to keep them all going.

So maybe cutting him some slack wasn't so bad.

::... Radical!:: The pause made Soundwave's enthusiastic confirmation even more silly, and Cliffjumper, alone in the corridor, didn't bother to muffle his verbal chuckle. ::Done and done! All prep's done, the crew's waiting by Astrotrain.::

With a shake of his helm, Cliffjumper snorted to himself. Sometimes he couldn't believe what his life had become.

::I'll be there in a klik.::


	3. Nostalgia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We're all hit by nostalgia every now and then.

"Hey Starscream, I kinda need your..." trailing off, Cliffjumper paused, datapad in hand, as Starscream jerked and fumbled as he reached over and turned off the holo display.

"Ah-h, yes, of course. What is it?" Starscream turned to Cliffjumper, already smiling faintly and his tone solicitous and welcoming. There was still something darker in Starscream's optics than usual, however, and the lines around them were drawn. But it was the faint _stumble_ in his voice, the astrosecond hitch that had Cliffjumper staring quietly.

He'd never really seen Starscream any less than composed, as long as he disregarded the incident right before they took off on the _Nemesis_ , when Megatron got kidnapped. Otherwise, Starscream was always composed, ready to work or already working, regardless of any possible strain that might make the corners of his optics pinched or his smiles just a _shade_ strained.

Things that were easy to ignore, at least if your designation was _Cliffjumper_.

That momentary glitch though, and the way Starscream had actually _fumbled_...

Not that he fragging _cared_. He didn't!

"Got the next few days of duty rosters here, and, since I'm apparently playin' _messenger_ too; Bombshell wanted to see ya," Cliffjumper said as he wandered over, handing the datapad to Starscream and _very studiously_ not looking at the offline holo display. Starscream could take care of himself, or talk to Soundwave. Or _Bombshell_ , or---

"... miss him?" And yet he heard himself say those two words as he crossed his arms over his chestplates and scowled, briefly glancing at that holo display and then to Starscream. And then _away_ , because the way Starscream's optics had gone wide and his mouth mouthed an off-guard, silent 'oh' before it twisted into a faint, way-too-soft smile...

He didn't care.

Really, really didn't, but he'd been the one to see this and sure, he could tell Soundwave Starscream was feeling _nostalgic_ or something, because like slag would Starscream say anything himself. If it wasn't poked _now_ , Starscream would ignore it. Further, Cliffjumper just knew that if it was posked at _later_ , Starscream would insist it was nothing and that he was fine. Well, that'd probably happen now too, as well.

Idiot.

"... yes. Of course. Always."

There was that hitch in Starscream's voice again, which scraped along Cliffjumper's circuits and his scowl deepened. But he was pretty sure that wasn't _all_ , not by the way Starscream had paused and slowly, nearly as if he couldn't help it, reached out to trace his fingers over the holo display.

"Tell me about 'em," Cliffjumper said with a huff and immediately looked away when Starscream raised his optics to look at him, for a brief moment again looking _way too vulnerable_ for his taste. He'd seen the image that the holo display had switched to after the one of Megatron intently reading something, the one right before Starscream had turned it off, and it'd looked like a group picture.

"It's nothing _important_ , Cliffjumper. We have other things to do. I just got a bit... distracted. But thank you for the---" Starscream's _honest_ if somewhat too-easy smile was interrupted by Cliffjumper snorting and slashing a hand through the air.

"I'm fraggin' _askin'_ ain't I? And the thrice-rusted, scrapping _duty rosters_ can wait, and I'm pretty sure Bombshell can too," grumbling, he finally turned to glower up at Starscream, who stared at him for a silent moment. Then actually, finally, dipped his helm and slid aside to give some space for Cliffjumper to sit if he wanted to as he turned the holo display back on.

Cliffjumper chose to remain standing, but got close enough he could lean against the table as Starscream quietly started to point out each of the mechs in the picture the holo had been showing when it'd been turned off.

Friends, and lives, lost or simply irrevocably changed. It was a story Cliffjumper _knew_ , of course. He had similar ones, but that didn't make this one any less... precious.

_To Starscream_ , obviously. He didn't care! He was just listening because it was... the right thing to do. Yeah.

And nevermind the faint smile on Starscream's faceplate, which wasn't _just_ aimed down at the picture and the mechs pictured in it that he was telling about, but got flickered sideways at Cliffjumper too.

Didn't matter.


	4. Recharge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting to sleep undisturbed is a gift, really.

It wasn't often he got to recharge a full cycle and not wake up at _some_ point during it - this time wasn't an exception. Tense in the darkness, Cliffjumper narrowed his optics. Stared up at the slack, pale faceplates above him, lax and soft in recharge still... a not too unfamiliar sight. However, there was still something _different_ about this time. Cliffjumper knew Starscream was aware he had his recharge cycles disrupted. Sometimes Starscream woke up because of that, sometimes he was already awake, himself having gotten his recharge cycle disrupted... it wasn't like one of them had a more restful recharge than the other.

What Cliffjumper wasn't sure if Starscream knew, however, was how he _always_ used to go for his gun. Grab it, hand tightening around the stock as he half-awake stared up at a _painfully familiar_ faceplate that meant... meant - right, nothing bad at all. _Here_ that was. In this reality. He sure as slag _hoped_ Starscream wasn't aware he always was shades away from shooting at Starscream in the first few astroseconds before his processor booted up enough and he could recognise the differences between _this_ faceplate and the faceplate that was exactly the same but... dark.

The other one was dark, in more than one meaning of the word. 

Shaking his helm slowly, Cliffjumper slowly, carefully reached out and slid a finger along the angle of Starscream's jaw, following the outline of his chinguard. The mech didn't stir. 

Tonight, he _hadn't_ gone for the gun. 

Tonight, he'd apparently instantly recogised Starscream as... uh, well, _Starscream_. Not that that made sense, but in a way it did. So now he was laying here, sprawled on top of the aerial with one of Starscream's arms slung low over his back, and he didn't even mind being pinned in place. 

It felt... both like a victory and like he'd _lost_ something by not going for the gun. 

Starscream's pale faceplate almost seemed to glow faintly in the darkness, but he knew, logically, that was just because of the glow from his optics. But the lines and angles (and few curves), that once had seemed harsh, even when they _always_ were soft in some way, were now just... there. Lines and angles and curves that made up Starscream's features, and they were pretty enough. 

It still felt like something between a victory and a loss, and Cliffjumper didn't _like it_. 

In an attempt at distracting himself, he squirmed up and kissed along the energon lines in Starscream's throat. They were warm, the pressure that kept the energon flowing making the cable pulse softly as his lips closed around it--- 

"C-cliffjumper?" 

"Nothin'. Unless... uh. You want it to be something." The darkness in the room got slightly less as the glow from Cliffjumper's optics brightened in a blush, and were joined by Starscream's dim ones. The jet stared down, focus fuzzy, at the minibot, helm hidden by his own chin as those warm lips still hadn't left his throat and while he _had_ been having a full recharge cycle for once...

"It... could be something, I think." 

He didn't ask _why_ Cliffjumper had been kissing his throat, however. There really wasn't any need for that. Whatever the reason was, he didn't mind. 


End file.
